Fenlin, Vhenan'ara
by squeakyclean
Summary: Solavellan. WIP. Also publishing on Tumblr.
9:27 Dragon

"Ghilanna! Ghilanna where are you?" an elf woman named Isene called out through the forest. A child's laughter could be heard in the distance "Ghilanna, it is time for your meeting with the seer!" Isene tread delicately through the thick brush of the Brecilian Forest, careful not to tread on sproutlings. She came across a clearing, as a child's laughter echoed around her again. The elf started to grow impatient, she crossed her arms, closed her eyes and let out her breath; listening for the rustle of branches. A smile crept across her face as she whipped around and grabbed the arm of the child called Ghilanna, who was attempting to sneak behind her.

"Gotcha!" Ghilanna stuck out her lower lip and tried to push Isene's hand off her arm. "Just do this one thing for me, and you can play all you want." the child sighed and surrendered. "Good, let's go." Ghilanna nodded and followed Isene back towards the encampment.

"Ghilanna is it?" the girl gave the old woman sitting across from her a toothy grin, and looked back up at Isene.

"I take me leave now." Isene touched her forehead then her heart and bowed her head, paying respect to the elder seer of the clan.

"Come, sit my child." the seer motioned to a stool across the table from her. On the table sat a round brass plate with twigs and herbs on it. Ghilanna obeyed silently. "Give me your hand." the young elf reached her right hand out; "The other one." the seer said calmly. Ghilanna was hesitant at first, but obliged; her left hand had always been a bit twitchy. The old elf took the younger's in her hands and cupped it over the pile of tinder. The seer closed her eyes, muttered a few words and a fire sparked in the grass. Ghilanna gasped and tried to pull away, but the elder held on tightly.

"It's hot!" the child exclaimed.

"You will be alone in a world of those like you. A great burden will be forced upon you, but you will have the help of guides to ease the pain. You will meet…" the seer yelped and dropped Ghilanna's hand in the fire, which she quickly yanked from the flame. The child clutched her burned hand to her chest and started to scream. Isene poked her head inside the tent, saw the commotion and yelled for another elf. The seer rocked back and forth on her chair, mesmerized by the distance with a look of terror on her face, as if she had seen the god of death himself. Ghilanna wailed as her father scooped her up and dashed out of the tent with her in his arms. Isene's eyes darted back to the seer.

"What did you see?" the younger woman begged.

"The Dread Wolf… he is going to take her." the elder made the sign protecting her from evil on her chest. Isene looked at her, white as a ghost. The younger woman made the same mark, and turned to leave.

"Da'len Isala Enansal." the seer called out to her as she left; brushing a tear from her face.

9:31 Dragon

"Ghilly!" Ghilanna was shaken awake by her mentor; Isene. The older woman was dressed in a cloak and hood, a small bag of food at her side. "We must leave, now." she said in a hushed whisper. Ghilanna wiped sleep from her blue eyes and yawned.

"But why?" she said, her voice normal.

"I'll explain on the way, get dressed and bring a change of clothes." Isene turned and left the younger elf alone. Ghilanna clumsily got out of bed and got dressed slowly in the dim candlelight.

 _It has to be the middle of the night..._ She thought. A few moments later she was stumbling out of her family's hut. Isene waited in the shadows, a pair of knives at her hips. She grabbed the younger elf's hand and walked briskly into the forest, being careful not to be seen by the guards.

The two traveled in silence for an hour until they came to a clearing with a large oak at its center; a shrine for the mother goddess Mythal lay at the bottom of the oak. Isene looked around the clearing, stepped forward and placed a small figurine at the altar.

"Mythal ghilani ar." she whispered, her voice shaky. Isene knelt and kissed the ground before standing up and returning to Ghilanna.

"Where are we going? And why are we leaving everyone behind? Why all the secrecy?" the inquisitive elf demanded from Isene. The older of the two looked down ashamedly and knelt once again, putting her hands on the younger's shoulders.

"Da'len, you must promise me, no matter what happens, you keep running. Don't stop, don't look back. If I tell you to run, you run." Ghilanna looked at her in confusion.

"Please tell me what going on!" she jerked away from Isene.

Isene stood and took a deep breath.

"Years ago, the seer of our clan saw the dread wolf take you. She told the head of the clan, and now he's convinced you're the reason the blight has caught up with us." Ghilanna looked as if she was going to cry in anger. "You are destined for great things" Isene pleaded "I had to get you out before they kill you." Ghilanna looked off in the deep night, tears in her eyes.

"Ok." she choked "Lead the way." Isene nodded slightly, turned and headed west through the less traveled paths.

The travelers had stopped for the night to rest. Isene had dug out a hole near the base of a tree and curled up with Ghilanna for warmth. The two dozed for a while until the sun came up. Isene awoke and nudged the small elf at her side. She pulled a roll from her pack and split it in two, handing one half to Ghilanna and keeping the other for herself. The pair then got up and kept on their journey.

Another few hours passed as the sun had gone from beating through the tops of the trees to shining through the side; creating light streaks.

"Issie, where are we going? Now that we have no home?"

"I don't know Da'len. Probably another clan. We can say we were separated from ours when they were taken to Tevinter." Isene responded. Ghilly nodded and kept stepping.

Another few hours passed, and they came across a cave.

"We'll stay here for the night, get more sleep that last." Ghilanna, who was already asleep on her feet nodded and trotted forward. She was so tired that she fell asleep the second her head touched the stone ground, and she didn't even hear Isene cover her with her own cloak.

Ghilanna awoke to a scream; she bolted upright and looked for the source. She could barely see through the darkness. The embers in the fire looked at if they had been stamped out. The young girl got up slowly and noticed a sachet of explosive herbs near Isene's pack. She grabbed it and held it in her fist, edging out of the cave. She peered around the side to where she heard grunting and struggling.

"Get her to shut up, would ya!" a man's voice rang out clear. A cloud moved and the moon shone down onto the scene that lay before her 400 yards away. Isene was gagged and bound and slung over the shoulder of what must have been the Tevinter soldiers the Dalish children had been warned about.

"She'll make a good whore if nothing else." another man grasped Isene's face in his hands, pulled down the gag and attempted to kiss the elf. From what Ghilanna could see, Isene bit the man's lip, and hard. As he fell to the ground, she looked back toward the direction of the cave:

"Run!" she screamed at the top of her voice. Ghilanna's eye grew wide as she scrambled out of the mouth of the cave, running away from the voices of would-be kidnappers. As she ran, she heard the men start to chase her. She cried as she ran away from her last friend. She ran through the forest long after the Tevinter men had stopped chasing her. She stopped only when she almost ran into a tree. She looked around and didn't recognize this part of the forest at all. It looked a lot more menacing that the glen she grew up in.

A snap broke the eerie silence in the trees, then a low growl followed by another. Ghilanna's eyes darted around the dark woods, and spotted five sets of teeth gleaming in the moonlight. They were drenched in saliva, ravenous from the scarce nugs and fennecs still left in the forest. As the dire wolves inched towards her into a patch of moonlight, she could see they were thin, with a crazed look in their eyes. They were going to do more than eat her, they were going to devour every last part of her. She scrambled back as far as she could up against a tree. She fell to the ground and wept, though that gained no mercy from the beasts. She took a large gulp of air and faced the monsters, still coming toward her. She picked up a branch next to her feet, and yanked her arm back immediately when one of the smaller wolves jumped out and grabbed the branch in its mouth.

 _This is it. These must be what the seer meant by the dread wolf…_ Ghilanna wiped the tears from her face, and made one final prayer to the goddess.

Just then, out of nowhere, a snarl roared from the trees. A giant black wolf leapt off the ridge to the north, and bounded towards the lesser wolves. When it reached them, it picked up the largest in its jaws and crushed it's spine with a quick bite. The black wolf thrashed the dead on around like a toy and threw it at the other wolves; who then scattered the moment their leader hit the ground, running away whimpering with their tail between their legs. The black wolf huffed at them before turning to Ghilanna, tears had once again started to flow from her eyes. The beast walked forward, leaned down, and sniffed her face. Ghilanna curled into a ball, perhaps to make her one easy bite. She forced her eyes to remain shut, so as to not see her inevitable death. Before long, the young elf was fast asleep, nestled in the roots of a Hawthorne.

 _A man… no, an elvish man reached his hand out to her. His figure obscured by the blinding green light behind him._

' _Vaelys…' he breathed._

Ghilanna's eyes flew open. She gasped as she saw two Dalish hunters before her; one kneeling next to her, and the other a few feet away keeping guard.

"Where did you come from Da'len?" the kneeling one asked. Ghilanna took a deep breath.

"My clan was attacked and taken hostage by Tevinter soldiers. My teacher made sure I got away. But, I'm the only survivor that I know of." she looked down and made the sign against evil on her chest. The kneeling elf looked at the other; they too sketched a symbol on their chest.

"What is your name, how old are you?" they asked again.

"Gh— Vaelys. My name is Vaelys. I'm 11." the young girl said, remembering her vision and her mentor's warning.

"Come with us. I think we have room for another Lavellan."


End file.
